26 Manning Street, the Sullivan house (1927)

View of the corner of High Street and Manning Street in Ipswich. The Sullivan house, facing Manning Street, replaced the Caleb Lord house, which faced High Street

The “First Period” Caleb Lord house on the corner of High and Manning Streets was removed in 1927 and was replaced by the home of Bernard Sullivan. It is a modified form of the “American foursquare” house that was typical of the 1920’s and 30’s. Just past it on High Street, one can see a house that was erected in the early 21st Century.

While High street was one of the town’s very earliest streets, laid out in 1634, Manning Street is relatively young. It was built in 1882 and is named after the well-known family of Ipswich doctors and entrepreneurs. Dr. Thomas Manning gave most of his estate to the town to establish a high school which was built and dedicated on August 26, 1874. Manning Street was laid out and built shortly thereafter.

The Caleb Lord House, on the corner of Manning and High Streets. Another early house sat behind it on High Street, but was torn down at least a century ago, and was replaced in the early 21st Century with a new house.

The house on the left in this old photo is the Caleb Lord House, at the corner of Manning and High Streets, on the lot where the Sullivan house now stands. It was an early First Period house. The very steep slope of the roof and the massive center chimney are traditional characteristics of Ipswich’s First Period houses (built between 1640 and 1725).

Behind the Caleb Lord house is another very early house that was torn down, and for a long time a vacant lot remained. You can see that it was a double house, two houses joined together. That house disappeared many years ago, and was replaced with the modern “colonial” house which stands at that location now, and is visible in the photo at the top of this page.